Share this:

Sony held a media preview event for its upcoming titles for the Fall/Winter and The Post’s Game Report was able to check out some of the showcase’s best. Over the next week, PGR will be taking a look at each title.

***

The Sly Cooper series has become one of Sony’s most famous and has morphed the stealthy raccoon into a gaming icon. The platforming adventures that have transpired over the past three console titles are among the best the genre has seen, so it’s about time Sly got his first shot on the PlayStation 3.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time is the fourth installment in the popular game franchise, and if you have ever played a Sly game before, you will immediately feel right at home picking up the controller this time around.

The plot behind Thieves in Time is that you are playing as Sly throughout several different generations of Coopers. Each level will be based around a certain time period and will feature a stage-specific costume that grants Sly a special power that will help him navigate through the perils of each environment.

The level I played through in the hands on demo put me in control of Sly in a circus-like atmosphere and granted me the power to transform into a bow-wielding version of the thieving raccoon.

All of the normal bells and whistles were present, but the unique aspect of playing as a green-clad Sly was that I could use a bow and arrow to create new paths across large gaps by hitting certain targets. Once the arrow is shot, the thumbsticks or SixAxis direct the point to where it would land.

The cel-shaded graphics were impressive on both the PlayStation 3 and the Vita, and there was no real slowdown as I controlled Sly on either platform (much like MLB ’12 The Show, Thieves in Time will feature PS3/Vita interactivity utilizing the cloud).

If the colorful, vibrant graphics weren’t enough, the game will feature nearly 90 minutes of cutscenes, meaning you essentially get a movie’s worth of animation in the title.

All told, Thieves in Time looks to be an excellent welcome back for Sly and his colorful crew.

Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time will release this fall for the PlayStation 3 and PS Vita.